


LIFE AND WONDERS OF A SHADOW

by lachesismcaecus



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Vernon Dursley, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Draco Malfoy Being a Brat, Fix-It of Sorts, Harry gets a family, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Meantal Health Awareness, Mental Health Issues, Mentor Severus Snape, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, OC being a responsible adult, Overprotective Molly Weasley, Petunia Dursley Being an Asshole, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Therapy, Vernon Dursley Being an Asshole, Violence, adding tags as i go on, cursing, he learns later, in a bad way
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 14:53:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30006570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lachesismcaecus/pseuds/lachesismcaecus
Summary: The Ministry had put some people in charge of visiting Muggle streets to look out for Muggleborn wizards in order to give them an earlier introduction to the Wizarding World.Caecus Nightingale has been asigned to scout Surrey.Some rumours reach his ears and he finds himself helping the Boy-Who-Lived after an unfortunate accident.OrCaecus Nightingale takes Harry into his custody and gives him the family and life he deserves.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________DISCLAIMER:  ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED TO J.K. ROWLING, AUTHOR OF HARRY POTTER. I DON'T OWN ANYTHING IN THIS BOOK EXCEPT CAECUS NIGHTINGALE AND I AM, IN NO WAY, OBTAINING ANY PROFIT.
Relationships: Harry Potter & Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character(s) & Severus Snape, Original Male Character(s)/???
Kudos: 5





	LIFE AND WONDERS OF A SHADOW

The neighborhood is always quiet, eerie so.

It’s not like it’s a bad place, far from it, the crime rate is low, almost near to nonexistent. However, is not what is on the outside what should make you wary, it’s the inside.

Little Whinging, located in Surrey, is the perfect place to have a family. And that’s exactly what the residents of Privet Drive number 4 thought. It had been some time since they decided to make that their little paradise. Petunia Dursley, nee Evans, is a rather boney woman, with pale skin and blonde hair. Her face is rather horsey, and her neck is longer than many people, it helps her to take a peek over her fence in order to spy her neighbors. Vernon Dursley, a man with a walrus complex and a large moustache. A big, beefy man that compensates the amount of neck Petunia has by having almost none of it. However, is their son the one that catches the more attention. He takes his blonde hair from his mother and his rather large complexion from his father. His spoiled nature is the stain in the big tapestry that is their outdoorsy life.

But pay no mind to any of that, for is not Dudley the one who pays the brunt of it, but his cousin Harry.

Now you see, there are some thing you must understand before this story goes on.

Many people might think that magic is nothing more but a fairy tale, however, magic is real as well as are fairies.

Why hadn’t you heard any of this before? Easy.

It’s hidden.

Many would say that it was Grindewald’s fault that every wizard went into hiding. Truth is that after the Second World War, every muggle was obliviated. And therefore, every single thing after Grindewald was left unsaid. So not many muggles would now of the raise and fall of Lord Voldemort. And how does that fit in this?

After a long and gruesome war, Lord Voldemort found his end by the uncanny ability of Lily Potter, nee Evans. It’s said that the love of a mother is something to be wary of, but it seemed that the Dark Lord hadn’t. Harry Potter was found as the only survivor of the attack, his parents, James and Lily Potter, dead. The sacrifice made by Lily Potter meant that for Harry to be safe of the followers of the Dark Lord, he would have to be with his blood family.

With Petunia Dursley, nee Evans.

Now that everything is into place, we can go on.

The Durselys are, for a lack of words, normal to the point of abnormality.

They want their lives to be as perfect and normal as possible. They have a loving family; they live in a lovely place and they achieve for a normal and lovely life. So, of course, every time that something falls out of place, is Harry’s fault.

His magical origins are known to everyone but him. And let it be said that the Dursleys hate magic, more than anything in the world. And, by extension, they hate Harry.

We are going to say it now, to put the cards on the table. If Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived had not been a wizard, he would have died not mere weeks after encountering the Dursleys. Many would think that after listening to what happened to her sister, Petunia would have enjoyed the company of her nephew. But it was far from the truth. After spending a long, cold night at the doorstep of the Dursleys, Harry had been thrown into the cupboard under the stairs, where he had remained until the present.

If someone knows the meaning of House-Elf, they might understand what I’m trying to say here. A house elf is a small, ugly being who needs a connection to a wizard to survive. They obey every order you impose on them and they have no possibility of rebelling. The contract between a House elf and a wizard can only be broken if the Master gives them a piece of cloth.

Harry was treated worse.

Every morning, he had to wake up and go to school. It was not so bad if you had not in mind the fact that Harry had to manage his marks under Dudley’s. It sometimes left Harry barely reaching a D. In the afternoons, he barely had time to complete his homework, all his time being taken by the enormous list of chores that his aunt set upon him. But things turn darker.

When Vernon is not in their house, things are not so bad, the only bad thing that can happen to Harry is his aunt burning his hand with the pan or being hunted by Dudley and his gang. But when Vernon is in home, the normality of their house is broken, for no man would beat a child until they are bleeding out in the floor for no reason, and they should not, even if they had a reason. Hiding the marks was easy, Harry didn’t have to bother much, even if he was only six years old, everyone in the neighborhood thought he was a delinquent. It was worse on the summers, when Dudley had more time to mess things up and when Vernon spend more time in the house.

It would not have been the first time that Harry had been more than five days without eating a scrap of food, the only thing filling his little and strained stomach being the mouthfuls of water he took when his aunt was not looking at him. How someone had not caught up to this fact by now? They didn’t want to. Abuse was not something that you should dwell on when you were living in Little Whinging. Every problem should be taken care of inside your own house.

But of course, if you are in the lady in her mid-fifties that is living in front of you and happens to stumble upon the problem, what do you do? Whisper about it with the other ladies in your street.

Caecus never thought about the places he visited much; his job was an easy one. He just had to go inside the classrooms, take a look inside and see in there were any possible wizards inside. Muggle wizards were rising and the Ministry, even if they didn’t want, had to it. And that was his job, to ensure that they had a list of possible muggle-born wizards so they could give them an early introduction to the Magic World. But it was proving to be difficult in Little Whinging.

Every little place he went, the old ladies across the street were pointing their bony fingers at him. His appearance was the source of this problem. It seemed that the people in the small town were still caught up in the old ways, and frowned upon vibrant hair colors, tattoos, and piercings. It was not like it would hinder his job or even give the neighborhood a bad image, it was clear that he was a foreigner in that street, but mothers still changed from one side of the road to another when they saw him coming their way.

His job was proving to be difficult, the need for normalcy that everyone exuded there was astronomical. He was sure that, had magic been a common thing in Little Whinging, every mother would be telling their children to display it. However, even if strange things were frowned at, gossip could be found easily. You could say that it had been pure luck that Caecus Nightingale found out about the situation the Boy-Who-Lived was in.

It had only taken him a stroll to the park and roaming close to Mrs Polkiss to catch wind of the unfair treatment of the boy. A few whispers here and there about how skinny the boy looked and how he always seemed to be covered with bruises that not even the most reckless child could have had him looking worriedly over the direction were said boy had been supposed to be.

The park had been filled with a group of kids not mere seconds ago, Harry standing at the boundaries of the park, but now, not even their joy-filled laughs could be heard. It was thanks to his incredibly good hearing that he realized that something was amiss.

The small grunts of pain that came form behind one of the trees at the opposite side of the park had him, slyly but firmly, walking to the spot. To say that it was hard to conceal the horrified gasp that had threatened to fall from his lips would have been and understatement. The boy had been lying in the floor, clutching a bleeding arm to his chest, with tear filled eyes and trying to get as far as possible from him.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”- Caecus forced his throat until the soothing words came out, the last thing he wanted was to spook more the child. “I can help you.”

A whimper was caught in the raven-haired boy’s lips, he was clearly trying to mute his pain as much as possible, and maybe his presence was not doing much to calm him down. A hard thud was heard as Harry backed until his back was colliding with the rigid surface of the tree, a pained gasp leaving his chapped lips.

Caecus tried not to frown, worry showing in his eyes. With a deep breath, he sat by the floor, a few meters away from Harry, even if they had to stay there for hours, he was not leaving until he had applied some healing charms on the child.

He didn’t know how long he sat there, only that it had been long since his legs had gone numb. Stroking the bridge of his noise, Caecus slowly approached the boy a bit more.

“Hey”- the child’s head shot up like a bullet, frightened eyes looking warily at him. “Would you let me see your arm? It looks like it hurts, I can help you with it.”

Pulling his hands over his lap so the boy could see every move he made, Caecus waited patiently for an answer, watching how the tension left the boy’s shoulders, even if only a little. No words left the green-eyed boy but he got closer to Caecus, observing cautiously, cradling his left arm to his chest.

Extending his hand, Caecus looked around for muggles and upon not seeing people in the area, he took out his wand. The beautiful piece bought from Ollivander reached barely 9 inches, the beautifully carved willow wood with unicorn hair as a core shone like a star under the reflecting light of the sun. Caecus could see curiosity spark in Harry’s eyes, and a small smile took place in his face.

“This is my wand, I will wave it so don’t be afraid, ok?”- The older boy smiled widely and showed it for the boy to see. “Tell me, had something strange happened around you? Something you couldn’t explain?” His smile, if possible, widened further as he saw recognition spark into Harry’s eyes.

“That was magic”- Caecus explained. “I will perform a spell that will tell me how to help your arm, ok?” Awed, the boy nodded, still not saying any words.

_‘Adspicio Malum’_

The silent incantation shot a slight silver tendril into Harry’s direction and Caecus’ heart clenched upon seeing the violent flinch that shook the small frame of the boy.

“You are lucky, there are no broken bones.”- Muttering a _‘Parvus Malum’_ , Caecus watched how the swelling decreased until only a slight pinkish tint could be seen in his skin. “What’s your name?”

Even if the Boy-Who-Lived was widely known in Britain, the boy himself didn’t seem to know about that.

“Harry Potter, sir.”- The small voice came of the boy, who looked almost scared of his own ability to speak.

“Well, Harry, do you want me to walk you home? It’s gotten quite late, it’s not safe to be around this late.”

They reached number 4 of Privet Drive, and the moment the house came into their view, Caecus saw a horsey-faced woman sticking her head out of the door, her lips pressing out in distaste. He pressed his hand into Harry’s shoulder, offering a silent support. He could see the way the boy was trembling under his hand at the women’s hard stare.

“Who’s this, Harry?”- a fake polite smile took place in his face.

“M-my aunt”- the answer came out as a strangled sound, if not for his enhanced earing, Caecus would have never understood it.

“Ah… Mrs Potter?”- maybe it had been the look in the face of the women but Caecus felt a sort of sick pleasure from watching the sour look in her face.

“Mrs Dursely”- she corrected sharply. “Boy! Come inside!”

“Ahh, my mistake then.”- offering a polite smile, Caecus tilted his head to the side. “You have the nicest garden in this street. Could I ask you what you did to those yellow carnations to make them blossom like that?”

Her gaze narrowed and she all but spat out “ Those are begonias”

“My mistake again, Mrs Dursley, I’m new to the world of gardening.” – pulling a crestfallen look in his face, Caecus batted his lashes, trying to channel innocence into his gaze, his ‘Outstanding’ in Herbology shinning brightly inside his mind. The door closed in his face, and his mirth disappeared.

While it had been funny to insult Mrs Dursley into her face, he hoped that his actions wouldn’t be reflected in the boy, the last thing he wanted was to put him in more harm. The diagnosis charm he had used in Harry while they had been in the park had told him that his arm had not been the only injured thing, a long list of injuries had been projected into his mind, and it had taken everything in him to not to gasp loudly and take the boy immediately to St Mungos.

The boy was not safe in that house, that much was clear.

Apparating directly into the hotel room he had rented for his time being in Surrey, he fell to the ground, his legs no longer supporting his weight. A chocked scream caught in his lips, his guts clenching to the point of hurting. Sobs filled the room; it could not end like that.

He had to do something. He _needed_ to do something.


End file.
